♚

                                                               “Are–” 

It was obvious what he was about to ask but decided to not continue, especially since he recognized that tone. It was rather stern, so even if he wanted he could not refuse. With a somewhat quizzical expression he entered the hallway. It had been quite a while since they had met, but Christian couldn’t help but at least try to talk to her once again. They had quite the breakup which was extremely hard for the man, even though it was his own damn fault.  

                                               “Thank you, fl- Anouhea.”

🌸     a shiver went down her spine at the slip up that almost came from his lips. giving a quick glance over her shoulder, anouhea watched his movements momentarily. it had been so long… maybe too long. perhaps not long enough. either way, it had been a long time since they’d seen each other face to face like this. “do you want some water or anything?” it was no surprise to her that he’d managed to find himself at her door, it wasn’t as though she had moved. three years later and she was still in the same home they’d once shared together. though– he wouldn’t have been able to see any evidence of that. turning back around to continue her trek into the living room, she went about ridding the couch of the various items that had been strewn about all day. laziness and days off went hand in hand for her. looking up at him, she held her laptop in one hand and motioned to the couch with the other. “all yours.”

🌸     an exasperated sigh was the only sound that anouhea could manage as she stepped off the elevator leading to her apartment floor. it had been a long day to say the least and the fact that she’d gotten caught out in the rain without an umbrella didn’t help to end it on a good note. shifting the weight of the bags she carried from two hands into one, she readied herself to turn the corner and punch in her access code. and finally she’d be home free to drop f l a t on the ground. or rather, she would have been if it wasn’t for the company standing at her door. “haeji? hey-- how long were you standing here? why didn’t you call me?” actually unbeknownst to anouhea, he might have called, but seeing that her phone was on silent and buried at the bottom of one of her bags, there was no chance she would have known. “is this you finally coming to pay me a long overdue visit?” she’d been nagging (okay, gently chiding) him about coming to see her for weeks, but she also knew their schedules. things weren’t exactly working on their own time right now. “looks like you missed the rain before coming in here. lucky you.”

                 Christian buttoned up his jeans as he turned his back on the naked woman that hid herself in the sheets. She was yelling at him, yet the man was so caught up in his own thoughts to even be bothered by the mean words despite that he truly did deserve to get called all those things. The man barely knew her yet she had succeeded in seducing him. Christian is engaged to the love of his love, but he let his lust take the better of him which was the stupidest thing he could have done. It wasn’t until he felt a shoe against his back that he was snatched out of his own thoughts. The woman was upset about the fact that he is leaving just when they finished their business. It was rather logical, she probably felt used- but that is nothing to what his fiance was going to feel- Or that was at least what the man thought.

                As he made his way home he couldn’t get the thought out of his head that his loved one, the one he promised to never betray, to always stay loyal to, was going to be hurt by him. Just when they had planned out the whole wedding. The foundation of their relationship is trust. Was trust. The man did not know how to cope with it, though he had made up his mind that when he would meet her for the first time in days, he would tell her. No excuses nor trying to talk it right- because what he did has no excuse. Once he finally had reached his home, he dialed the code and made his way inside, though he was surprised by an all to familiar voice. 

                                                            “Flower-”

               It was obvious that he was taken by surprise, sadly it was visible that it wasn’t a pleasant one. His heart dropped to the floor as he closed the door rather slowly. He had to tell yet there were no words coming out of his half opened mouth. There was not a sound to be heard for a while until Christian decided to break the silence.

“I need to tell you something-  I did something- Incredibly stupid– I know I shouldn’t have because you’re the only one I love. It didn’t mean anything- I swear it didn’t! I love you so much, Flower. I am so incredibly sorry- I know I did you wrong, you deserve way better but I can be better..”

🌸     'it didn’t mean anything-’

he hadn’t said it exactly, he didn’t need to. she knew exactly what he saying to her and it left her standing there with little more than a blank look on her face. sure, she’d known that it could happen to other people. she’d witnessed it, written songs about it when it happened to one of her members, but-- for some reason she had always found herself exempt from it. on another plane from these pains of the heart. and how mistaken she was. they had never been perfect, but anouhea had thought that maybe their “love” could make it through it. she wasn’t a fool by any means, but she was thinking that maybe for once she had been.

the words she was looking for didn’t seem to come. or rather, didn’t seem to want to leave her lips. every time she opened her mouth it was as though they got stuck in the back of her throat. there wasn’t even anger bubbling up, just-- nothing. a kind of numbness.

🌸     “yah! i would have gotten that one!”

the outburst was accompanied by a laugh as anouhea went back to finishing pouring her drink. a happenstance run-into sunwoo had turned into them winding up sharing food and a few drinks at a back table of one of the newer restaurants to hit seoul. the back of the restaurant was basically a patio area (which was nice for them seeing that the summer air was welcoming) and an electronic device with games for each table to enjoy. the pair had been trying their hand at disney movie trivia and so far they had been killing it. up until she started pouring another round and he answered a question regarding which iconic disney movie came out in 1989. ‘the little mermaid’ was nearly shouted in excitement, but he had clicked ‘beauty and the beast’ before the answer had fully left her lips. “there goes our winning streak,” she said with another laugh before picking up her drink and taking a sip.

🌸     an exhausted sigh escaped anouhea’s lips as she entered the apartment that she was sharing with her fiance. granted, it was more like he lived there primarily as of lately seeing that most of her time was being spent back home in hawaii. the lack of light and sound was a strong indicator that he wasn’t home yet and so she busied herself with dragging her suitcases from the living room to the bedroom. sure, it was a task that she could already hear his voice in the back of her head nagging that she leave it for him to move. but she was restless, so moving her clothes back into their respective drawers should be enough to keep her occupied. looking at the blue numbers on the dvr that illuminated the darkness, 10:13pm, she knew that him being out this late was nothing new. especially seeing that she hadn’t told him she’d be returning two days earlier than planned. maybe she shouldn’t have tried to keep a surprise. those had never really been their thing anyway.

it had taken her a good while before her suitcase was emptied and things were looking the way they had before venus’ trials had started. sure, not everything was going to go back to normal, but for now, she was seemingly satisfied with it all. having left the suitcases in hopes of getting him to put them back up on the top shelf (not that she couldn’t reach it, but more so because he had a thing for doing all the heavy lifting). the time on her phone now read 10:57pm and she hummed softly to herself while going on the search for something to eat. though, she was sure the cabinets would be bare (if she knew christian at all). but before she could even make it from the hallway to the living room, the sound indicating that someone had punched in the access code rang out and her eyes immediately darted to the door.

🌸     "stop moving! you’re making this shot difficult.”

anouhea’s words were accompanied by a laugh as she tried to capture a photo of yongguk with her polaroid camera. but, leave it to him to be busy paying more attention to the art hanging in the window of the now closed store than to her desire to take a picture. so just going with the ‘screw it’ mentality, she went about with snapping away, not caring if it was blurry or not. it adds to the artistic quality, he had told her once and it wasn’t as though he was usually wrong. taking hold of the small image that her camera spat out, she went about shaking it gently as she joined him in front of the darkened window that was only illuminated by the street lights. the piece was definitely something worth looking at, but it was also keeping them from the engagement they had that involved not only several rounds of soju, but cheese chicken as well. “how aesthetic,” she claimed, looking down at the now developed photo of him in her hands. sure enough it was mildly out of focus, but he had been smiling. “i’m going to keep this one. but come on.”

🌸     anouhea’s lithe frame was leaned against the door that led into her home as she watched christian, closely. there was a lot more that had seemed to change since last seeing him and she took notice of it all. from the obviously impulsive body modifications to what seemed to be just a hint of fatigue in his voice; something he never seemed to carry with him before. she was going to regret this, she knew she was going to. but before she could even stop the words from coming out-- “it would probably be safer for you, at least for right now, if you just stayed.” and there they were. “you’re already here. might as well.” the words were not a suggestion, they were said in that quiet but firm tone she was known for; a tone that indicated that this was no option. pushing the door to her home back open, she walked in, leaving an opportunity for him to follow.

♕       they were contrasting, and maybe, that was the real reason behind the sync in their work. they simply functioned together – better, she made him a functional man, she made him a better version of himself. ( how someone could have such power over the other ) roman liked how direct she was, he appreciated that she was not often swayed by his words and manners, and a part of him still wanted that she would fall for his charms – but maybe, that was for the better. “ i am writing something on how beautiful you looked yesterday morning. ” it was roman, and he would never waste an opportunity. “ it’s coming out nicely, but it’s still a surprise. ”

🌸     a soft smile tugged on the corner of her lips at his words and she debated ignoring them. but if she knew anything, it was that ignoring him would not bring a good result at all. “if that’s the case why don’t you have 365 songs written about me? i look beautiful every morning.” it was her way of saying ‘thank you’ and she was sure he’d pick up on it. nude painted fingertips reached out to pull his notebook a little closer to her, hoping to get a better look at what he had scrawled down on the paper. it’s not that she was doing so to offer critique on his work, far from it actually. since day one, the two had realized that they worked almost too well together. “if this is all in order... i think that the bridge would work with a female vocal on it. maybe ask nina?” if there was one thing that remained true, it was that roman’s vocals fit well with almost any female feature. she was almost envious.

👽     in all honesty, to say he was in full control of his action, was a blunt lie. he had decided to skateboard by the river – he had decided, without planning anything ahead, without even checking if he was with his phone and wallet; which ended up with him not being with neither, and in his pockets nothing but a lighter and a blunt. kahili had gone far, and then he decided to light up, and then he realized he was under the rain with nothing to cover himself with but his shape, which, by the way, did its job poorly. in the haphazard that was his mind, the first place that he could think of was home – and the closest he had of his home was his sister. the doorman let him in without a second glance; he had full access to her place at all hours, and sometimes he wished he heard her more and actually stopped by frequently. when he noticed, he was at her door, and a second later, he was surrounded by the smell of chicken and the unique scent of the flowers that bloomed during hot summer nights that only annie had. “ i am starving, really. ” he watched as she practically bounced around. “ and apparently is raining a fucking lot, i had no idea. ” kahili stood in the middle of her living room, awkwardly, not wanting to touch anything while wet like that.

🌸     "oh, it’s ‘raining a fuck lot’ i would have never guessed.” the comment was said with playful sarcasm as she pointed to her balcony door. it had been cracked open slightly so she could enjoy the sound of rain and also so it could keep the smell of chicken from overpowering her home. “i think you could actually be sherlock holmes. who’d have guessed,” she teased while going on the search for something to keep him from dripping on her hardwood. opening the closet on the wall in her hallway, she managed to pull out a large towel and toss it at him in hopes of getting rid of some of the water excess. “you still have clothes in the back room somewhere if you wanna change into those.” cash had a way of coming through whenever he saw fit and annie had a way of always having things ready for him, no matter the hour. thankfully it was only about 10:30pm right about now. but he was the king of showing up at 2am talking about he was hungry. “does this mean you’re going to make me give you little french braids like when we were kids,” she called out over her shoulder, heading back into the kitchen (the opposite direction of where he was going).